SINthetic
by Blue Funk
Summary: Help me, he whispered. I was too shocked to speak. I don't want to feel, he said. I couldn't move. And then he kissed me. It felt warm. Too bad he was sick. With Syns. AkuRoku
1. It Won't Come Back

Gods, yet another fic. I just can't stop, can I? Nevertheless, Special Discount still holds basic priority over the others. I just wanted to get this up, 'cause I'm trying out my hand in other genres, like suspense. And by "sci-fi" which was originally what this fic was put under ... yes, this takes place in the future. You can't tell in this chapter, but we'll get there. Also, one can consider this my late Halloween thing, too. xD Dunno if I'm gonna keep updating it, though. We'll see.

By the way, be sure to check out that other silly fic of mine and my friend's, "Bump in the Night." It's sexeh, I swearzorz.

Any reviews would be greatly appreciated :3

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**SINthetic**

Chapter 1 - "It Won't Come Back"

* * *

The echoes and voices were everywhere and nowhere. In, but out. Harsh, but soft. Cajoling, but threatening. Loud, but quiet. There, but not there at all. 

Were they talking to him, or simply passing through? Surely, he could use some intelligent conversation right now.

Yin and yang, white and black, your sanity's gone and it won't come back.

What a joke.

The figure shifted, pulling up its knees and wrapping his arms around them. He shivered.

What a life.

The lone, skinny individual tilted his body sideways to lie in the fetal position. His cheek pressed into the cold linoleum. Such a funny word, fetal. Fee-tal. Spelled like petal, but not pronounced the same way. That would be feh-tal, wouldn't it? Silly silly silly. The ramblings of a crazy person, huh? Well, he _was_ hearing voices. That was probably the first sign. He giggled softly.

What a joke.

He twitched, toes wiggling slightly as he nuzzled his head farther into the floor, hoping to find a more comfortable position. His ears were ringing with a dull roar. It hurt slightly, but just slightly. He had more important things to worry about than that. Like his wants.

He wanted to eat. Oh, but he was so unbelievably hungry. But they weren't feeding him. They were keeping all of the delicious food for themselves, selfish asses. But _he _wanted it, too! He wanted it all! All for himself! _But they were keeping it from him_. Why? _WHY!?_ He'd kill them! He'd kill them _all!_

Jealousy and rage curled up in his stomach, only to die down shortly afterwards. Why was he stooping to their level? He was bigger than that. Bigger and better and stronger and smarter. He would show _them._ Besides... he just didn't feel like getting up right now, either. Much too lazy. Why hurry when life could go so slow, after all?

What a life.

He purred to himself, smiling wearily. All this intense thought was making him hard. And horny. Was it getting hot in here?

One hand slithered down slowly, nonchalantly slipping beneath the plain white, hospital issued pants to reach his goal. As pale, slim fingers circled around the hot, hard flesh, squeezing and pumping, causing the already dull eyes to darken, the pain began to slid away. He sighed softly, eyes shutting. Things were ok. Everything was ok...

Right?

The voices came back in sudden full force, as if sensing that he had put his guard down. It was painful to witness. With a gurgled choke, he gasped and curled even tighter in on himself, lust forgotten as he dragged his hands back up into his hair, squeezing and hoping to rid himself of the screaming echoes.

They were singing in horrible, wailing voices to him.

What a joke.

What a life.

Yin and yang, white and black, your sanity's gone and it won't come back.

-----------------------------------

_Report #1_

_I am not fond of writing journal entries, but my lab partner, Riku, has recommended that I start a small progress report from our departure of Oblivion Inc. to mark down the beginning of our new "lives," so to speak. In layman's terms, a "diary." I personally think this is ridiculous, but nevertheless..._

_Introductions, then. My name is Roxas Ventus. I have watched 23 years pass by without much realization, so caught up as I've been in school, college, and now, my research. As soon as I received my degree for science and medicine, I've been working busily at Oblivion Inc, researching. Unfortunately, the company had a fallout, despite its fierce competition with Twilight Pharmaceuticals, the company across town. Ironically, the only other place for us Oblivion workers to go was right to our enemies._

_As soon as I had entered with Riku on that early October morning, our eyes were scouring the sterile environment for our two foes in the researching world: Axel Minato and Sora Astrum. _

"Y'know, we haven't heard any recent news about those two for a few months, now..." the tall, silver-haired man said as he tucked his hands into his jacket after they passed through the heavily-armed security. His boots made soft sounds on the tiled floor as they walked down together, he and Roxas. The corridor itself was sparsely occupied with other Twilight workers, but the pair was, for the main part, ignored.

It was their first day at work. Their new job. Twilight Pharmaceuticals.

Roxas shrugged silently, his blue eyes hidden behind the spiky cowl of blonde hair as he feigned disinterest. But the other knew perfectly that he was just as curious. Roxas and Riku had been competing with Axel and Sora for two years now, both trying to one-up each other in their projects:

The first year, Oblivion came out with Verlazil, a drug against the common cold.

Just that April, Twilight released a more effective flu shot than ever before. Needless to say, competition between the two was fierce, with the four leading the fray.

However, that summer, Oblivion went bankrupt over a fatal mistake in marketing. Everything went downhill from there, and Roxas and Riku had wisely, if not somewhat shame-facedly, scrambled for jobs in Twilight before they lost everything. It was a tough world and they knew that they needed to survive, despite all of their old loyalty to the company.

The world of medicine in 2123 was cruel and ruthless. In fact, the world in general was pretty damn ruthless, as well. Doctors did everything they could to achieve their goals and cure disease. If it meant killing off a dozen or so patients, well... so be it.

Cancer was a thing of the past. And AIDS? Forgotten. The human populace had bigger things to worry about.

It wasn't until about 50 years ago that disease got... well, smarter. It mutated, it grew, it molded itself to squeeze around anti-biotics and meds. Viruses and bacteria become so much more advanced than ever before, and the world had begun hurriedly scrambling to keep up before their race was killed off by the micoscopic pests. Pharmaceutical companies had been sprouting up like weeds ever since and the business was so intense and secretive that transferring was almost like a death-sentence. No one trusted each other anymore in the science and medicine field, and the common public hardly knew any better. They depended too much on the companies and the power of doctors and scientists alike had risen dramatically in the past fifty years.

With the rise of science came an evolution in medicine, as well as a fall in the value of life. Drugs and vaccines were processed speedily, but only because most of the testing occured right at the source of the problem. Instead of lab rats, there were lab humans. The infected, those _lucky_ ones that had the honor of going through the process of achieving a new cure, became test subjects. The whole research process, unsurprisingly, went a lot faster that way.

Roxas and Riku had been partners since being made to work together two years earlier, and they had yet to separate, which was more of a safety issue than anything else. So, of course, they went together into the enemy territory, and got assigned to the Research wing together.

"_Granted, and unsurpsisingly, we have never seen the duo of Axel and Sora. We are sure that they have never witnessed our faces, either. Our local newspapers do not find it fit to publish stories on our or their achievements, and we have never actually cared enough to visit. So Riku and I did not even know who to look for. We plan on asking around as soon as we receive our job assignments, however."_

A brunette smiled warmly at them, watching Riku and Roxas tug on lab coats. "Welcome to Twilight Pharmaceuticals! It's nice to see some famous faces here, despite even the unfortunate closure of our sister company, Oblivion Inc."

Roxas frowned to himself, but kept from rolling his eyes. Unfortunate closure? Yeah right.

She extended a slender hand. A few silver bracelets were sparking from her wrists and Roxas was sure that the clothes she was wearing were designer. She obviously wasn't poor. Then again, workers in Twilight were not known for poverty. Most people these days in this field of work weren't.

"My name is Aeris Gainsborough, the Clinical Research Vice President of this branch. We realize that you are much more used to working in large groups, but here at Twilight, we prefer smaller amounts. This keeps the information compact. You'll send in your reports to me every week. We trust that you read your contracts and noticed the secrecy compact, as well."

Riku strode forward to grasp her hand first after he fastened on his name tag. He was always the more polite of the two. Grinning slightly, he nodded his head. Some of his silver, silky hair fell across his shoulders. "Riku Suzume. Pleasure to meet you."

"I've heard a lot of good things about you, Riku. It's wonderful to have you with us." Aeris continued to smile. She radiated calm and peace, even in the simple white lab coat. Roxas didn't trust her. He didn't trust many, though. Not in this line of profession. He was here to work, not make friends.

"_Our supervisor goes by the name of Aeris Gainsborough. She seems to be well-aware of what she is doing. However, as we asked about Axel and Sora and when we could meet our greatest rivals, we were in for an unpleasant surprise.."_

"I'm afraid our two favorite research scientists are out on a business trip and won't be back until the end of the year." laughed Aeris gently, "They will appreciate the help once they return, though, I'm sure. This project is small in numbers as it is."

Riku and Roxas exchanged curious glances, sharing a feeling of disappointment, before shrugging it off and allowing Aeris to lead them off to their respective offices.

"_Report #2_

_We began work almost immediately. At least there weren't any idle minds or hands. _

_At the moment, Twilight's newest medicine, unnamed, is going through research. This is where Riku and I come in. Coming in liquid form, given through needles and shots, the medicine was designed to cure a disease of the brain. __Anterior Cingulate Cortex Disability Complex__. As the ACC has been proven to help control the amygdala, which in turn processes our emotions, the disability complex neutralizes all the emotions. The victim loses his or her feelings and soon just becomes monotonous, feeling neither happiness, nor sadness, nor anger. _

_The medicine is meant to rectify that and get the ACC to start working again. A synthetic, man-made anti-virus is injected into the patient, which in turn targets the ACC and reboots it. And all had been going well. The shots had been working. Until..."_

Roxas walked in silence after Aeris, who was leading the blonde through a white hallway. Riku had already been dropped off and now Roxas was left alone with the woman.

Paintings hung on the walls between the rooms, but Aeris simply passed them by and continued talking. "A few months ago, some of our research began showing negative results. As it turned out, some of the subjects who had been going through testing reacted very badly with the shots."

As they walked, Roxas occasionally glanced through the windows set into the doors. People were busy working away, mostly in labs. He looked over to Aeris. "How badly?"

The brunette sighed. "The anti-virus that we injected into them was rejected by the cells, then proceeded to mutate. In fact, it mutated into a completely new, stronger form of ACCDC. And because we made the anti-virus, we gave the new disease the name of Synthetic Anterior Cingulate Cortex Disability Complex."

"_Despite the ridiculously long name, the disease itself is serious. Not deadly, so far, but painful. It was like a super-diease. There was no cure for it. As I found out later, it is usually called Syns. Thus far, there are only two subjects that are infected with it, but apparently, many others took the first anti-virus as well, so coming up with a cure was compulsory."_

"I have already assigned Mr. Suzume to Subject Two, so you will be paired with Subject One. Both One and Two have been afflicted with Syns. We want you to observe them, as research for this has just begun. Both subjects recieve their injections every morning and we want you to record any observations. Jot things down, run tests, take blood samples, and the like. Learn about their symptoms, then compare notes. As Doctors, you two would be able to spot things much better than any simple study coordinator."

Roxas was lead through one of the many identical white doors. A simple task such as this one was unsurprising, he was new here. And observation and tests was what he did best. He had no complaints. Nodding in understanding, he followed Aeris through the small hall. Two doors faced him, but they walked through the one of the left.

It was the observation area. A small table was set against a large window that looked into a medium-sized room. Aeris set down Roxas's clipboard on the counter. The blonde frowned briefly.

"I'll be able to observe directly, correct?"

Aeris only smiled. "Of course! However, some of Subject One's symptoms so far have been... violent... so I would much rather you obeserve from a safe distance first to set your base. You are the first to intensively study him, so you must start from scratch." The tall woman distractedly plucked at the shiny bracelets at her wrist, taking one last look around the area, before nodding to Roxas with another upturn of her lips.

"I'll just leave you to it. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask Naminè. She is Number One's care-taker and nurse."

Roxas was left by himself. The observing room carried only the table and the chair. The room he was actually observing... well, maybe the patient was out? He blinked briefly, looking into the seemingly empty, and, he noted, padded box, before sitting down in the only actually sitting implement in his own area and sighing.

So this is what his new life felt like at Twilight Pharmaceuticals. He really couldn't complain. It paid well, had insurance, and he got the weekends off every other week. The blonde picked up his pencil and began fiddling with it boredly, blue eyes glazing over.

The two years he had spent out of college had been mostly like this. As a research scientist, in the beginning, he had spent most of his time observing, making notes, putting the subjects through intensive testing, then writing reports. After a few months, Roxas moved up to coordinating these actual projects. As the medicine progressed, he was the one responsible for smoothing out problems and glitches in the medications. But now, it was back to the novice days. He was basically a one-man operation for Subject One, if he inferred what Aeris said correctly. It appeared that Twilight had multiple small operations running at once with smaller teams, rather than one or two large ones like in Oblivion. Roxas sighed again.

Science had been a passion back in college. Now it was a routine, day-to-day job that paid well but didn't satisfy his lust for excitement. Pursing his lips, Roxas leaned back in the chair and had just started wondering if Riku had gotten off any better when there was suddenly movement in the adjoining room.

The nameless victim, the sorry human who had contracted the Syns disease, was moving about. Looks like Roxas wasn't alone, afterall.

"_I had also wondered why the disease had been abbreviated to Syns. It wasn't odd that the diseased victim was living there, being researched. These people always had consent from their families if they themselves weren't coherent enough. It was for the sake of science, after all, and they were also well taken care of. _

_But never before had I seen something like this. Like... him._

_I knew now why it is called Syns."_

The lanky individual rose from his simple mattress that had been pushed into the corner. Well, "rose" was over exaggerating. He rolled out from beneath his blanket onto the floor. Roxas sat up, eyes keen as he watched him, wondering what exactly he was in for, how gruesome this disease was.

Visibly shivering, the man sat up and ran a few pale fingers through his matted, dull red hair.

Roxas frowned, at first not seeing anything unusual. The victim was skinny, yes, but it was obvious that he was well taken care of. His body-type was slim, but he was well-fed. His hair was a little messy, but groomed nevertheless. He appeared to be functioning normally, as well. The blonde was perplexed and couldn't help but scowl. What was there to be scared of here? He would have much rather prefered to be observing up close, rather than in the dingy little room.

The male abruptly turned his gaze towards Roxas. And while the research scientist knew completely well that the tinted window hid him completely from view, he couldn't help but be a little disturbed by the look his subject was giving him.

The green eyes that Number One had looked crazed. Had Syns driven him insane? Was that the reason for the supposed "violent" symptoms?

Still, determined to do his job, the blonde pulled his chair forward and readied his pencil. Studying from afar, he would at least record. He looked back to Number One, expecting the male to still be sitting with that blank look on his face. Instead... Roxas' jaw dropped.

The Syns victim had pulled out his cock from his pants and was now feverishly jerking himself off, regardless of the window in front of him, regardless of anything at all, really.

Roxas stared. And stared. And his eyes moved just slightly in their sockets, watching the up and down motions of the man's hand, his mouth dry with shock. He had never seen anything like his before. To be truthful, Roxas had never worked much with severely incapicated mental patients either, but he was still startled and stuck dumb. His fingers curled tightly around his pencil, unable to take his eyes away from the sight.

"_His behavior was abnormal. He just... went and masturbated. Right there. In front of me._

_But it made sense why. At least, later._

_The name 'Syns' had been coined not only for the shortened word 'synthetic,' but because it was based on the Seven Deadly Sins. The victims, One and Two, display violent symptoms that imitate the classified vices. I have never witnessed or heard anything of the sort before."_

For the next week, Roxas went about doing his job, Aeris still wishing for him to keep his distance. Every morning, he awoke around 9:00 am, got dressed, took the local train to work, and arrived almost always at 10:00 on the dot. That was where his day would begin. Sitting down at his pathetic little table (now hosting a little Dragon tree that he had brought in himself to liven things up), Roxas would tug out his notepad and pencil and wait. One (for he went by no other name) would wake up shortly afterwards to find breakfast waiting for him by the bed and Naminè, the nurse, to give him his shot. Roxas would watch and scribble down notes.

1:00 was a lunch break, but by 2:00, it was back to work and at 7:00, Roxas met with Riku. They compared notes, and at 8:00, they went home. Seven times, Monday through Sunday, Roxas had repeated this, but there were results, as futile as it seemed.

Roxas had noticed a pattern. Each day, every few hours, One would go into overdrive and start moving about or acting in such a way that resembled one of the _Seven_. Every day was a different one.

"_If it was Gluttony, he would grab at every single scrap of food his caretaker brought him, stuffing it all down and chewing voraciously. Later, he would bang at the door, yelling wordlessly for more. As far as I know, he does not speak coherently._

_For Pride, One would sit upon his bed as if it were a throne, turning his nose up at Naminè and keeping to himself. I caught him peering at his nails and preening himself once._

_Greed had One huddling in a corner, clutching at all of his possessions (which included a blanket, the mattress, and a pillow) and giving Naminè suspicious glares when she came in. _

_If it was Sloth, the man stayed in a comatose position all day, not bothering to move, not bothering to even live, as it appeared to me. This is one of the more alarming, if not eventless, symptoms One goes through._

_Wrath had One screaming and smashing everything he could in his padded room, flinging himself into the wall and door and even, once, running right into my window. The window, I know, hides me from view so that he does not realize my presence, but for a moment, I could have sworn he saw me. _

_Envy was a calmer one. He just isn't allowed to be around people at this time. Every time the caretaker came in, One would try to grab something of hers and make her give it to him. But Naminè knew better. She always managed to sneak out with all of her possessions. _

_But Lust... Lust was another story altogether. Naminè never came in on those days. She hurriedly slid his food around the door and hurried out. And of all of them, Lust happens the most._

_But I... I always stayed. I had no choice. I observed. At least in-between his attacks, the man is calm. He usually just sits and stares at something. If I didn't know better, I would have said he was deep in thought. However, I am getting impatient with this procedure. I need to run tests and actually come into contact with One if I hope to make any more progress with this."_

--------------------------

Finally, Roxas was introduced to Naminè, the caretaker, after a full week of work. It was a pleasant meeting. Naminè was about the same age and soft-spoken. She took care of One's needs, whether it was feeding him, bathing him, giving him his medicine every morning, or even giving him a haircut. The smaller, slimmer, blonde had smiled upon their first meeting and told Roxas all that she could about One.

"He can be really sweet, One. He doesn't talk, I know that, but I think he's trying to tell me something sometimes."

Roxas tucked his notebook under his arm. It was Monday again. Another day of observations complete. "Does he know who I am? Will I ever get to meet him?"

The girl smiled to herself and shrugged. Roxas had been surprised with the respect in which Naminè spoke about One. She didn't see him as a mindless, nameless, diseased individual.

"You'll have to run than by Miss Gainsborough. I'm sure that One will actually want to meet you one day. regardless, though. He knows that he's being watched. Figured it out a while ago when he smashed the old window with his fist. That had been one of his Wrath days..."

As the two walked together, Roxas frowned, another question coming to mind. "How long has he been here?"

Naminè fell silent for a moment, biting her lip. Roxas didn't miss the brief, far-away look in her eye, but she was back to reality in no time, smiling sadly. "Two months. Since about August, right when we started the testing for the new medicine. How's it coming along, by the way?"

Roxas thought back to the very first meeting that had been held that weekend. The blonde had finally come into contact with the whole team working on the medicine. There were only about twenty. "Well, we've been assuming that Syns and the original disease can be cured with the same anti-virus, so we've been focusing on the old calculations, but with modifications."

"The Cure will take a while, then." sighed Naminè. They reached the end of the hall and bid each other goodnight.

---------------------------

"_Report #11_

_Riku and I finally compared notes in a more in-depth fashion. It seems that One and Two are completely similar in their symptoms. And my initial observation was incorrect. Their Seven Sins cycle is not limited to just seven days. One spent a whole week in Sloth mode once, according to Naminè."_

Two entire weeks had passed. Roxas was still observing, and steadily growing impatient with Aeris's stubborn belief that they wait a little longer before delving into more intense testing. And One had continued to exhibit the strange symptoms.

"_The Subject spent most of the day sleeping, only rising occasionally to eat..."_ -- Sloth

"_The Subject reacted violently when his caretaker attempted to take back the food he had not eaten, and was nearly tranquilized."_ -- Greed

"_Patient One, for the most part, was seen sitting in the corner, mumbling to himself and occasionally feeling parts of his body in a sexual manner."_ -- Lust

It was becoming an everyday thing for Roxas to occasionally catch the red-head sitting on the floor, staring with a dazed look at the glass separating them. It was odd, but Roxas had a strange urge to not only test him, but talk to him, even if it was one-sided. There was a chance he could push his research forward that way.

He brought it up upon one of his note-comparison meetings with Riku.

The older man nodded in agreement, shuffling his papers. "I was just thinking the same thing the other day."

"Because, I mean..." Roxas ran a hand through his blonde spikes. "I'm not really getting anywhere at this point. One is just repeating the same things. Maybe if there was some interaction..."

"Roxas, I agree with you." Riku sighed, "Two is just as frustrating because he's younger than One. His attacks are longer. He spent almost an hour yesterday flinging his body into the wall..."

Roxas fell silent, turning his eyes onto the small picture of Two attached to Riku's folder. The victim was a few years younger than One, according to his file. A kind-eyed teen with a huge mass of brown hair on his head, Roxas had seen him in person once. That had been his Sloth day. There hadn't been much to see. It was becoming common-place, almost, to see the two Syns victims go through their day to day torture.

The blonde nodded goodbye to Riku as he walked back to One's room, troubled. Since when had he lost his compassion? Since when had he stopped pitying One and Two in the first place? Yes, he was working for a cure, trying as hard as he could, but was it really for the victims? Or just for the medicine?

Had he ever really pitied him at all?

Roxas hadn't written a journal entry in days.

--------------------------------

The singing had stopped. How odd. How funny.

He giggled lightly, idly poking at his pillow. There were new eyes watching him, he knew. Blue eyes, Nami had said. Pretty pretty blue eyes. Like the ocean. Pretty.

What was an ocean? Funny word, ocean.

Silly and funny. Like a joke.

Every time he thought about those eyes, the singing stopped. The voices took their leave, too. How nice of them, giving him some more room in his head. It had been getting a little cluttered, anyway.

One smiled eagerly, hugging the pillow. When he met the ocean-blue eyes, he'd be sure to find out what an ocean was.

Nami was back again. With the needle. Damn needle. It didn't hurt. It didn't do much, really. He didn't know why he hated it. But some part of him told him to hate it.

Did pretty ocean blue eyes like the needle?

He'd have to find out.

With a shake of his head, he raised his eyes to meet Nami's and he smiled.

What a life.

What a joke.

Up and down, through and through, what'll you do when your mind's left you?

--------------------------------

By week three, Roxas had had enough time to completely take in the victim and learn everything there was to know about him... through observation. He knew every single symptom, every single detail about the male, down to the tiny tear-drop tattoos beneath his eyes. He could even diagnose how to treat One on certain days.

That was when Aeris had allowed him to take things to the next level. _Finally_.

It was mid-October. And Naminè had come into his observing room that third week and told him that it was time to meet One. He was getting a haircut.

Roxas had gotten his chair and brought it over, excitedly entering the padded room for the first time. It smelled pleasant. Like faint cinnamon. Following Naminè's instructions, he sat himself right in front of One's stool, pen and pad ready, legs shaking slightly from nerves. This was it. He was finally meeting the Syns victim. One sat across from him, staring at his lap, completely ignoring Roxas.

It was a Lust day, but One had gone through a lapse about fifteen minutes ago, so it was safe to interact. They had about an hour before anything occurred again, if things went according to the patterns, which they usually did.

Naminè entered shortly afterwards, smiling gently as she always did, an electric razor, barber scissors, and a comb in one hand.

"One, this is Roxas. He's just gonna watch you today and make sure you get a nice hair-cut, alright?" She said softly, kneeling by One and motioning to Roxas. Eager to get a good mood going, Roxas tipped his lips into a small grin.

"Hey, One."

One pulled his head slowly, painstakingly, his long red hair falling over his face slightly. He stared long and hard at Roxas, his green eyes dark and gaunt as he observed the blonde, before looking away without any reaction, face blank. It was as if he hadn't even seen Roxas.

Roxas's smile slipped, but Naminè continued to nod encouragingly at him as she moved to stand behind One. She gently took a strand of red into her nimble grip and began cutting, scissors making soft snapping noises as pieces of hair fell to the ground onto the sheet of cloth the girl had placed there earlier.

Roxas kept himself still, watching One. The man didn't move. In fact, if not for his open eyes, the scientist might have thought he had fallen asleep.

Meanwhile, Naminè spoke to Roxas in her soft voice, keeping her tone so gentle, it would have been appropriate for calming down a spooked animal. "He gets haircuts once a month. For some reason, his hair always grows so fast, so some were thinking there might be some weird growth hormones in the drug..."

"So I've heard..." Roxas replied quietly, noting that One's eyes weren't actually still. They were flicking back, to where he could see his hair falling to the floor, then forward to Roxas's shoes, then back to his lap.

The hair-cut proceeded in silence, all three in the padded room saying nothing.

"Oh, shoot!" Naminè had picked up the razor to trim some of One's neck hair, only to realize that the battery had died. She grinned sheepishly at Roxas. "I forgot to check if it worked. Can you stay with him for a few minutes? You should be fine, I'll be right back!"

Roxas just managed a nod before the blonde scurried out of the room, leaving him alone with the Syns patient.

The atmosphere turned awkward. There Roxas was, stuck with the diseased and somewhat empty-headed individual. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, choosing instead to peer around the room. The change in attention cost him.

He didn't notice the movement.

He didn't see the spark of life return to the green eyes.

Nor did he notice the stretch of lips and skin, making room for a sly smirk.

But as Roxas turned back to look at One and see if any change had occurred, he most certainly managed to take in how the taller red-head had straightened his slumped shoulders, propping his hands, which were pale and slim, on his knees, and leaned forward.

The blonde scientist didn't dare move as One's face came in closer and closer. Anything could happen and the idea of a sudden movement on his part didn't seem particularly intelligent. He was startled to realize that even with the three weeks of work under his belt, he had never noticed that the green eyes were narrow and slightly slanted or that One's face construction was almost elegant.

"One! I... what are you doing?" Roxas whispered weakly, fascinated but slightly fearful at the same time. He didn't expect a reply, but hoped that some speech and noise in the suddenly silent, still room would break whatever spell One was going through.

The sly smirk expanded. Warm breath skittered over Roxas's face. Those slim fingers moved forward to splay over his chest. There was no body heat radiating off of those palms. Roxas swallowed, locked on One's intense gaze.

Then a voice was speaking. It took Roxas a moment to realize that it was One who was uttering words.

"Help me."

One had whispered it, ache and desperation apparent in the hoarse voice. Roxas barely even saw the lips move, but he spoke. The blonde was too stunned to move, let alone say anything.

"Help..." He repeated. "I don't want to _feel_... anymore. No more. Please..."

"I don't..." Roxas choked out, bewilderment written across his features. "I don't know what you mean... we are helping you, that's why you're here!"

But One was off in another world now. Just like that. His anxious mood changed and he was sighing softly, leaning in until his face was nuzzling into Roxas's neck. Still, the scientist couldn't shift his limbs. His eyes were wide.

"You're so warm... so soft..."

There were pressing lips at Roxas' neck. Then they were at his cheek, barely even making contact. And before he knew it, One had pulled in for just a small kiss.

And unlike One's hand, there was definitely warmth and life in those lips.

"One!"

The patient abruptly snapped at the sharp noise and pulled away, scuttling across the room to bury himself into his bed. Naminè stood at the doorway, a pack of batteries in her grip, both hands on her hips as she glared at the quivering pile of One huddled underneath his blanket. There was anger in her eyes, something that Roxas had never seen before. But the gaze quickly changed to pity as she looked over to her co-worker.

"Sorry about that... it's the Lust, probably. I think it's time you go, I'll handle this..."

"Uh, uh...yeah." Unable to bring a hand up to his mouth and wipe away the lingering warmth that he was still feeling, Roxas stood and nodded distractedly. His scientific mind, for once, fell short on providing an explanation on what the hell had just happened. He didn't even bid Naminè goodbye, but simply staggered out, leaving the care-taker and her subject alone.

He needed to go see Riku. Now.

------------------------------

As soon as Roxas's uneven footsteps died away, Naminè sighed and flung down the batteries. She turned mournfully to One, who was cautiously peering out from beneath the blankets, eyes wide with fear.

"Oh, Axel..." She sighed, shaking her head. "... what have you done?"


	2. Reassessment

So I went back... edited Chapter One. There're some new details, but I didn't completely re-write the silly thing. So then, lo' and behold, we have chapter two! Thank you, everyone, for your reviews! I apologize, this is a short chapter. It's probably a good idea to re-read chapter one, though. And I promise to make it up in the next one! xD

* * *

**SINthetic**

_Chapter Two - "Reassessment"

* * *

_

His hair was a chocolaty brown, smooth and soft to the touch. It was oddly styled, naturally so, and stuck out every which way in thick spikes. With pouty lips and an innocent face, one would think that he didn't deserve what he's going through. Then again, did anyone?

This was Two. And he had Syns.

Riku frowned, clicking his small light once to pry open Two's eyes and peer at them, shining in the light to watch the pupils dilate in the crystal-blue ocean of iris. Aeris had finally given the go-ahead for closer observations and the silver-haired man had sprung at the chance, immediately diving into testing and a physical. Two was in a Wrath stage, but was stable for now.

The doctor paused, staring into the lit cobalt eyes that were blankly staring up at him before sighing and pulling away. He put on a small grin, keeping his voice low and gentle. "You alright? I'm gonna check how your muscles are doing now, ok?"

Two only continued to sit at the edge of the bed, but at the questioning tone Riku's voice carried, he managed a small upturn of his lips, the only reaction. It was almost pointless to carry on the one-sided conversation, but Riku only did it out of habit and to fill up the silence that was in the room.

The subject was fascinating. A disease of the brain, caused by human error, as Riku believed it to be. And one that controlled emotions so efficiently was indeed something worth studying. Still... he couldn't help the twinge of pity he felt for Two. He had thought that all the years at Oblivion had hardened his emotions, but the listless brunette had softened him.

Riku wasn't sure yet if that was a good or bad thing yet.

As he continued to examine Two's body, noting some paleness of the skin, Kairi walked in. She was scowling slightly. The red-headed nurse of Two had been with the subject as long as the project had been going. Usually, there was a grin or smile on her face, but this time, her brow was furrowed with annoyance. Riku looked up blankly as the click of the door reverberated through the silent room.

"What's wrong?" he said in mild confusion, holding a thermometer in one hand.

Kairi huffed briefly before waving her arm in the direction of the door. "Doctor Ventus wants to talk to you. He says it's urgent and that it can't wait."

The young woman had met Riku the very first day. It had taken two minutes of introductions, and only two seconds to for Riku to like her. She was usually cheerful, perky, and eager to help. She knew everything there was to know about Two thus far and treated him well. She was reliable and from what Riku heard, her only other equal was Roxas's partner, Naminè.

"Roxas?" Riku stood, setting down the instrument. "Can you stay with Two, then? I'll go see what's wrong."

As soon as the door was shut behind him, Kairi busying herself over the infected brunette inside, Riku was beset by a highly disturbed Roxas.

"Riku! I need to talk to you. Right now."

Riku took a second to look the blonde over. The man who was two years his junior was panting, his cheeks were flushed, and his eyes narrowed slightly. Something was up. Tucking his hands into his lab coat, Riku flicked some of his hair over his shoulder as he side-stepped to lean against the wall, raising an eyebrow slightly to show that he was interested. Roxas rarely got so excited over things to this extent. "What is it?"

"One. He showed very bizarre symptoms." Roxas shook his head, fingers frantically combing through his hair with no particular pattern. His eyes dropped to the floor, as they usually did when the blonde found himself thinking hard about something. "He spoke to me. Coherently. He asked for help."

Riku's second eyebrow rose to meet the first and they both lifted in surprise. "He spoke to you? But from the three weeks we've got under our belt so far..."

"Yes, I know. It's odd. It's uncharacteristic. He never did anything like this before with Naminè." Roxas agreed distractedly, head spinning.

"Although it's probably understandable that he was asking for help, he _is_ sick." added the taller man as an afterthought.

"He's not _supposed_ to be asking for help, Riku. He's supposed to simply sit there and be evaluated. He's not supposed to... to..." Roxas's hissing, impatient voice abruptly teetered off. He stopped.

"To what?"

"Well..." Riku found himself frowning again as he watched Roxas struggle to keep up his composure.

"You're hiding something. What did he do? What day is it for him?"

Roxas froze at the question. He sighed slowly, arms moving to hold across his chest as he finally raised his eyes to meet Riku's head-on. "It's a Lust day. One was just getting a hair-cut and I was going to observe. But Naminè briefly left and... then it happened."

"What? He just went and asked you for help?"

"No." Roxas shook his head, looking away again. "No, he seemed to come to life again. And he grabbed me and begged for help, but..."

Riku rolled his eyes. "But you're not telling me something."

"He... he k-"

Out of the hushed silence came a sudden howl. There was screaming from the room behind them. Two was going through his attacks again. Riku and Roxas barely even blinked; they had heard the same yells so many times before. Kairi emerged almost immediately after, holding the thermometer Riku had left behind.

She shrugged, handing back the instrument. "I made it out just in time. Looks like your check-up will have to wait a little longer, huh?"

A sudden thud at the door made the trio jump. Two had apparently run into the door and soon after began hammering his fists into it. Riku turned to ask Roxas if he wanted to perhaps go talk in a quieter area, but the blonde was already leaving.

"Roxas!"

The other male waved over his shoulder; he'd tell him later. Riku was left with his screaming subject, Kairi, and confusion on what the hell Roxas had wanted to tell him. Still, this new progress was intriguing. He'd have to look into it.

-----------------------------

That night, Roxas didn't sleep. How could he? There was too much on his mind, too much to think about, an overwhelming urge to run back to Twilight Pharmaceuticals and speak with One again.

It was perplexing. The subject showed no signs of being capable of coherent speech or communicating efficiently and yet that didn't stop him from just sitting up, out of the blue, and begging Roxas to put him out of his misery. The kiss had just been icing on the cake. And what was with Naminè's reaction? She had been appalled and angry, not shocked. For someone who had spent the past few months aiding One in actual surviving, the sight of him doing something so unnatural should have been surprising.

Perhaps she had assumed it was the Lust making One do it. Roxas groaned, burying his head in his hands. He didn't want to think about it anymore. A good night's sleep was what he needed.

Yes, sleep was definitely the exact thing his body demanded at that moment in time, but his head was not allowing it. Getting frustrated with the procedure of sitting on his bed, laying down, then getting back up again, the blonde decided to simply screw it and go do something at least a little productive. He wandered over to his computer. He could get his mind off things, read the news, check his e-mail...

Or go straight to his data management program where he kept all of his information on One stored to research some more.

Shivering slightly in the cold apartment where he lived, Roxas pulled his blanket closer around his shoulders, getting used to the light in the dark room as the program hummed into life. But setting the information out in front of him did little. It showed only that yes, what One had done that day was completely irregular. Even the previous brief reports that he had received on the subject before his own observations began carried no change of state for the male victim. Never before had he openly spoken to someone or showed actual signs of life.

All of the symptoms had been the same... up until now. What had changed?

Roxas turned back to the studies on Syns itself. Synthetic Anterior Cingulate Cortex Disability Complex was a virus. Small, harmful, and, as far as Roxas saw it, puzzling. Some of the theories came down to the Spindle Neurons. They helped channel neural signals from the cortex to other parts of the brain, acting like controllers. This included channeling emotions, which is where Syns came into play, as well.

The Spindle Neurons in the amygdala were infected with these viruses and something caused the transmissions of emotions in the neurons to go awry, more or less breaking down the entire system. How the virus exactly worked... well, that was still unknown. It was a new disease with many undiscovered parts, despite the anti-virus that had been created.

And now, thanks to the certain undiscovered parts, the anti-virus had created two more victims with an entirely new disease.

Perhaps the reason was not because of the vaccine, but the people. One and Two could have had odd medical conditions beforehand that skewed the results.

Roxas clicked his way to the database of Twilight. Only workers could access the site, and Roxas could delve even deeper because of his position. Feeling another chill go up his spine, the blonde burrowed deeper into the blanket and brought up the files on One and Two.

He had seen the shortened version, but this contained more information. Yes, there were the blood readings, the amount of anti-virus he was given each day, and the like. However, Roxas was interested in their past and who they had been before turning into lab mice. He opened the folder.

Only to receive an error message: "File Unknown."

The blonde frowned. "The hell...?" Another attempt to re-open One's file ended in failure. The same for Two's.

This meant that either the information was damaged, deleted, or lost.

"Odd." Roxas sat back in his chair, eyeing the error message with a thoughtful look. He would have to ask Aeris about this. Maybe the file had been misplaced. There was certainly no way that the information was gone, it was too important. Nevertheless, Roxas was left only with the stats on the two victims, and their pictures.

Roxas spared one more moment to stare at One's dull-eyed expression before he turned away and rose, walking over to the window of the apartment.

It was still the dead of night, and the cities lights were mostly dimmed. The blonde released a slow breath as he rested his forehead against the glass of the window. It had been a long day. The kiss with One had been replaying in flashed in his mind at the most inopportune moments. He hadn't dared to come back into contact with the subject again for the rest of the day.

Although...

The chance of getting One to speak with him again was tempting. Roxas pursed his lips, fingers curling around the fleece cover he had thrown over his shoulders. Very tempting. Today had been a breakthrough, afterall. One hadn't spoken to anyone before.

_"I don't want to feel... anymore. No more. Please..."_

And then...

_"You're so warm... so soft..."_ There had been the lips, surprisingly tender, running over his skin gently, not kissed but simple touches... the breath of One had managed to just barely warm his neck in that slow instance.

Roxas abruptly flinched, darting away from the window as if scalded. Damn. The daydreams were back again. Frustrated, mostly at himself, the blonde wandered back to bed. Tomorrow, he would talk to Aeris. Right after that meeting they were having to reevaluate the progress of the medicine.

That night, he had troublesome dreams of fire. In the last one, he woke up panting and covered in sweat, the image of One burning alive still fresh in his head.

---------------------------

Roxas returned to his apartment. The door clicked shut behind him. He dropped his bag to the floor. He hung up his coat. The air was still and quiet. The rooms empty, but for him. Everything was as usual. And yet, everything was completely different. It had been almost 24 hours since he had suffered from the insomnia. There were deep purple bags under his eyes and his hair was messier than usual, but that was hardly the point now.

In his head was a mass of cluttered, newfound information. In his mouth was a stale taste brought on from being too dry for too long. And in his hands was a jumpdrive. One had given it to him. Naminè had explained some of it to him.

One whole gig of destructive information. The ball was set and rolling. Roxas swallowed, fingers tightening around the USB drive in his sweaty palm.

Things could only go downhill from here.

* * *

All will be explained in due time. Don't forget to review, guys! 


	3. Missing Piece of the Puzzle

Chapter 3

"Missing Piece of the Puzzle"

* * *

Before the jump drive, before the drastic wave of change, there was just a regular, schedule-driven day ahead for Roxas. Just regular duldrums and observations ahead.

He was tired. He was sleep-deprived. And there was a big meeting today concerning the process of the anti-virus for One and Two. Which meant that half of the meeting would be wasted on introducing him and Riku to the rest of the members of their team, and then the rest would be wasted watching a PowerPoint slideshow.

Meanwhile, it was a beautiful day in the city. The sun had risen and was shooting its rays through the shining, glassy buildings of Dolus City. Roxas propped his chin on his hand as he stared out the train window. The tall skyscrapers and medical facilities glimmered. If the scientist hadn't been so troubled and drowsy, he would have smiled at the beauty. He had always loved the city. Having been fborn and raised in a nearby metropolis, he preferred it over the country any day.

The blonde suppressed a deep yawn and took another gulp from his coffee. His two hours of sleep from the night before were definitely going to make him crash later. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

"You look like the living dead."

Roxas laughed weakly, fixing his tie with dull weariness as Riku observed him from his desk. The two shared an office, which had been provided for them the first day they had come in. Roxas and Riku hardly spent any time in here, using it more like a break room than anything.

At least it had a place for Roxas to put his coat. And, more importantly, a computer.

"I couldn't sleep last night." replied the blonde, tugging off his jacket as he moved through the office to sit down at his own desk.

Riku pursed his lips, leaning back in his chair. The silver-haired man had tugged his hair up into a messy bun. Roxas had noted before that the scientist possessed a talent for always managing to pull off anything girly and making it something attractive. Pushing up the rimless glasses he sometimes sported, Riku nudged forward a fresh cup of coffee for his partner. "You know, you could take something for that."

"I already do." Roxas replied with a chuckle, taking the hot drink with a grateful grin. The warmth flooded through his body almost immediately, making him feel better and a tad more awake. Hopefully, the caffeine boost would kick in soon, too. At least before the meeting. "Nothing like a little xanthine alkaloid compound to help me in the morning."

"Oh yes. How could I have forgotten your little obsession with psychoactive substances and central nervous system stimulants?"

Roxas shrugged, sitting down again. "What can I say? I like coffee."

A peaceful moment passed between, consisting of Roxas gulping down his second serving of coffee and Riku checking his e-mail. The latter eventually spoke again.

"So how's One doing?"

The image of the "File Unknown" alert came back up in Roxas's mind. Perhaps Riku had an answer. He turned abruptly to face his friend. "Actually, I found something interesting while I was staying up last night."

Riku merely quirked an eyebrow to show that he was listening. Roxas sighed, setting down his mug. "I was checking out One and Two's files and trying to do a little research on their pasts. But they weren't there. Apparently, the files are corrupt. Or missing altogether."

The other man's brow furrowed in confusion, but he didn't get a chance to speak. The door to their double office opened abruptly and Aeris poked her head in, smiling, as she always did.

"Alright, you two. Meeting time."

The pair simultaneously stood, Roxas keeping his face neutral while Riku pulled together a grin. As soon as the older women pulled away from the doorway, Riku dropped the act and cast a curious eye in Roxas's direction.

"Tell me about it later, alright?"

The blonde frowned to himself, nodding. "Yeah. Later, then."

Roxas had earnestly hoped to get the problem off his chest before the meeting. He had even hoped that it was just more paranoia on his part than anything else. There could always be a perfectly good reason why he couldn't access such vital files. Just like there was a perfectly good reason why One had begged him for help despite his disease. And why he had kissed him. Roxas was certain there were very viable, logical reasons behind everything.

But could there be a logical explanation to the agony he saw in One's eyes when the man had spoken to him? The deep, heart-wrenching pain that he witnessed through emerald-green windows to the soul?

Roxas snorted to himself as he walked through the double-doors to the meeting room, shaking off his thoughts. He was getting sentimental now. Swallowing down his overall confusion, the blonde shoved all of his troubles to the back of his already cluttered brain and switched to "Dr. Roxas Ventus, acclaimed scientist" Mode instead.

This meeting was big. Apparently, it was held once a month. Previously, Roxas had only met with Aeris, Riku, and their two nurses. A greater deal more were involved for this particular gathering.

The meeting room was filled with people he had honestly only caught glimpses of in the halls, if ever. He and Riku, with Kairi and Naminè and Aeris in the lead, handled the Syns aspect of the project. Then in the other wing were the original researchers who continued to try and help the ACCDC-inflicted subjects.

As predicted, a decent amount of time was spent going through thorough introductions. The first was a pair from France; Dr. Blanc and Nurse Rousseau, otherwise known as Vexen and Olette. They worked together on Subject A, an original victim of the simple ACCDC, but Syn-less. Next to them were Dr. Leonhart and Nurse Kisaragi, both of whom also insisted on being referred to by their first names, Yuffie and Leon ("But his real name is Squall, don't let him fool you!" Yuffie grinned.). The two of them handled Subject B. Obviously, creativity was not available when naming different subjects.

Overseeing the ACCDC group was a man who Roxas recognized. In fact, it was impossible to really forget the tall man with bright pink hair. Nevertheless, the blonde still smiled as he shook his hand. "Marluxia Scarlett."

"Roxas Ventus. Pleasure."

Roxas met Naminè more warmly, an honest smile taking over his lips as he shook the girl's hand. "How are you?"

"I'm fine." The blonde nurse returned the kind gesture, but immediately widened her eyes in concern. "And you? Are you ok after what One did yesterday?"

The scientist hesitated. "Y-yeah. It's alright. I was just a little startled. I'm not exactly used to such… well, I don't even know what. I'm not used to subjects like One."

"I can understand that. It's alright." Naminè smiled reassuringly, "I just gave him his dose this morning and he seemed better."

The two sat down together, Roxas in the middle of Riku and Naminè, as folders were handed out to everyone in the room. The scientist took the time to glance around again as he nodded in thanks to Kairi, who was the one passing out materials.

What intrigued Roxas the most was the presence of Dr. Diz Ansem. He was in control of the whole project concerning ACCDC, as well as Syns. It was odd that he was coming in on such a trivial meeting of just comparing research notes. Luckily, Roxas was not the only person who noticed the oddity. Riku did as well, and the two exchanged raised eyebrows and identical looks of perplexity before finally, everyone was acquainted and the meeting began.

Aeris daintily cleared her throat from her seat at the end of the table. She flanked Dr. Ansem, who had his own assistant on his other side, a gangly woman, then Marluxia to his left.

"Alright, so you all should have the subject files in your folders. If you could please skim through them so that we're all on the same page…"

Roxas looked down at the simple manila folder that he had been given, glanced up briefly to watch the rest of the research scientists begin their own perusals, then sighed and opened his own as well. He didn't exactly feel like participating today; his mind was much too cluttered and bogged down with no sleep and confusion regarding One. Hopefully, Riku would handle the explanations from their side.

A brief pause followed as the men and nurses looked over the case folders. Roxas flicked past One and Two, or, at least, he had intended to. His fingers faltered as he moved to turn the page, eyes stuck on One's profile picture. It really was interesting how he hadn't noticed before that the man's history was nowhere to be found. Roxas's eyes narrowed. It was almost a trivial matter, but the blonde couldn't shake the ominous feeling that had settled over him. Nevertheless, he certainly couldn't look into it now. With a brisk flick, the man moved on to look over Subject A and B. The regular patients. The luckier ones.

A and B had already been going through observations a year. Apparently, after the unfortunate side-effects on One and Two, all dosages for the initial correction of ACCDC had been immediately stopped for both subjects. The research team split in two then, one to handle Syns, the other to continue working on the original disease.

Roxas had never seen either of the ACCDC victims. A appeared to be slightly gaunt, with dull eyes and a messy mop of dark hair, a part of which even fell over his face. It wasn't surprising that his face was absolutely void of expression. As for B…

Riku leaned over to grin marginally at his partner. Lowering his voice so as not to be overheard, the man chuckled softly. "B looks a little familiar, don't you think?"

In surprise, Roxas flipped to Subject B, then immediately punched Riku's shoulder so that the silver-haired man was pushed away. "Shut up."

"Very mature of you." Riku retorted with an amused snort. The blonde only scowled, looking back to his folder.

B doesn't look anything like me, Roxas thought with a scowl. Perhaps the spiky, golden locks might have appeared a tad similar, as well as the large blue eyes, but that was where all the similarities ended. There were plenty of people who had hair-cuts like that. Riku might as well have said that he and Two were alike just because their hair grew in unruly spikes.

Aside from that, Roxas found it perturbing to be associated with a subject who carried such a dull, dead look in his eyes. B's stony expression could have passed for a statue's.

"Now, on to business…" Marluxia abruptly piped up, standing. He produced a small remote in his hands. With a few pushes, a projector screen lowered down from the ceiling and an image was produced from the back of the room, illuminating onto the white display.

Roxas turned his attention back into the meeting with a blink, head flicking towards the screen. The rest of the attendants of the meeting did the same.

Just as he thought, a PowerPoint presentation had been made to entertain the group. After the fifth slide, Roxas found his new-found energy from the coffee slipping, as well as his eyelids. One could only absorb so many graphs and diagrams concerning the four subjects' behavioral responses over the past month. And Vexen's whiny voice only grated on his ears when he actually tried to pay attention.

Five more slides… A and B had shown slight improvement the past week thanks to an increase in the amount of medicine they received. Roxas yawned.

At slide 20, Roxas regained some interest as One and Two were brought up and a blown-up version of One's face clicked into view on the screen. Riku was prompted to stand up and reiterate all of his findings thus far, as well as make some estimates for what to do next. Roxas only stared at the display blankly through the man's speech, mouth dry and mind buzzing with thoughts of how he wanted to sleep.

He should have known better to zone out, really.

"Dr. Ventus, would you please share your own findings?"

Somehow, Roxas found himself unable to tear his eyes away from the unmoving green ones at the front of the meeting room. They had been so intense the day before…

"Dr. Ventus?"

What was behind those eyes? Roxas felt the need to know the man's past. What had driven him to end up in the research labs of Twilight Pharmaceuticals? There had to be a story here. Even though it was common for companies to keep the subjects' pasts private and see them only as things to be researched for the good of mankind, supposedly, it was still odd that no file was kept on One's actual life before he was hit with ACCDC, then Syns.

"Roxas!" There was a nudge at his side. Roxas whirled around to meet Naminè's concerned gaze, then met Aeris's amused smile. The room was silent, all of its occupants staring at him.

"Dr. Ventus has been hard at work lately; it's not surprising that he is a little fatigued." The woman chuckled to the rest of the group. Roxas spotted Leon nodding in understanding while Olette giggled to herself. Dr. Ansem, on the other hand, did not look pleased, and his assistant frowned disapprovingly, her electric blue eyes like slits as the antennae-like bangs sprouting from her head twitched.

The blonde laughed nervously, standing. "Ah… my apologies. In any case, onto One…"

Roxas attempted feebly to collect his foggy thoughts together to at least put in a decent explanation of One's activities for the past month. He opened his mouth to begin, but an interruption came flying his way. Naminè's pager began beeping frantically from her hip. The blonde girl nervously apologized and dived for the device, leaving Roxas standing beside her with a confused expression and awkward stance. Riku leaned around his partner to look at Naminè, as did all the other doctors and nurses.

Unfortunately, the moment only continued to decline. The nurse gasped, a slender hand flying to clap over her mouth. "Oh no! Dr. Ventus, it's One. His status has become critical. It appears that he's begun screaming uncontrollably and calling for you."

Roxas was taken aback. "For me?" He hadn't even been aware that One knew his name. "But how-?"

Yuffie slammed her hands down onto the desk, eyes wide with excitement. "Really? That's weird!" Leon immediately silenced her by pulling her back into her chair. Kairi, on the other hand, stood up immediately.

The red-head bit her lip as she pushed her chair back to the table. She looked to Aeris, then Roxas. "I must go check Two, then, just in case. Dr. Ventus, it's probably best if you go check up on your subject. Riku, stay here." Kairi immediately pushed the man back into his chair as he made to get up.

"But I should probably-"

"No, it's fine. I only need to check up on him." Kairi replied firmly. Naminè rose from her seat as well, tucking her pager away with trembling fingers.

Roxas, however, remained frozen to the spot. One had been calling for him? That wasn't possible. It couldn't be. What could the man have been possibly yelling? Did it have anything to do with the haircut indident from yesterday? His fingers clutched around the top of his seat, turning white with the intense grip. Aeris interrupted his thoughts.

"Dr. Ventus, I agree with Kairi. I think it is best if you go investigate the situation. Riku will be able to handle the rest of the meeting, I'm sure."

Confused gaze shifting from Naminè's urgent distress to the cool but concerned expression on Ms. Gainsborough's face, Roxas swallowed, giving a brisk now, and turned to leave, hands immediately finding sanctuary in the pocket of his lab coat so that he could hide the way they had curled into painfully tight fists.

A deep, gruff voice made him pause at the doorway of the meeting room, however.

"Boy, make sure to call for more help if One gets to be too much for you."

Dr. Diz Ansem had finally spoken for the first time. The intimidating older man stared Roxas down from the other end of the room, poison yellow clashing with ocean blue. His assistant only smirked slightly, slim arms moving to cross over her chest. Roxas hesitated, then silently nodded in response, not knowing how else to respond to such a statement. He said nothing, finally leaving the room and shutting the door behind him to hurry after Kairi and Naminè.

An unshakable fear crept through his body in the form of a chill. The blonde had no idea what to expect, but the way that Ansem had looked at him, he could only venture to guess that it wouldn't be pleasant. There had been something in the man's yellow eyes that made his skin crawl and his throat fill with bile.

"Roxas, hurry!"

Still, Roxas had no time to waste on the man. One held the obviously greater priority. Stumbling after the nurse, Roxas only sighed, relaxing one hand only to drag it through his hair.

He would need to look into Dr. Ansem later.

* * *

When Naminè and Roxas arrived in front of the door leading to One's room, it was silent and almost stifling. Even the hum of the lights seemed to have been dimmed down. Roxas brushed his sweaty palms, proof of his anxiety, on his pants as the girl peered through the window of the entrance.

"Didn't you say he was screaming?"

Naminè suddenly smiled as she turned back to face the doctor, surprising Roxas. She still appeared anxious, but a sudden glint in her blue eyes made Roxas do a double-take. She had lost the soft, innocent aura about her.

"Roxas, his status is urgent, I suggest we go in one by one so as not to startle him."

"Naminè?"

She closed her hand over the door handle, eyes wide. "Please, doctor, I insist that you go first."

Roxas was completely confused now. The shuddering, ice feeling in his skin was back, creeping over his flesh and raising goose bumps. And still, the disturbing silence from the other room continued. There was something very wrong here. "Naminè, what's going on?"

The girl continued to speak, shaking her head. "I know this is a little abrupt, especially after what you've been through, but this was our only chance to do this. I'm sorry for thrusting this on you." Her voice fell to a whisper as she spoke, gaze hardening with something akin to determination. "But this is the only way. That's what he says, at least. He has faith in you."

"Naminè, who?"

But the girl's voice had returned to its normal volume "Please go in, doctor. I'll be right behind you."

The door was opened. Still, silence. No abrupt screaming or yelling. No whimpers from One, either. Nothing. Roxas didn't move. "What am I going to see in that room?"

The nurse flashed another small smile. "Only One, sir. He needs your help."

Naminè's odd behavior was too much. It had to be only One in the room then, right? The blonde faltered. He had to go in, something was pulling him in. Curiosity. And a desire for an explanation.

With a deep breath, Roxas squared his shoulders and walked inside.

The door abruptly shut behind him as soon as he made it through the doorframe. Obviously, Naminè was not going to follow. Roxas turned quickly, just in time to see the back of the girl's head disappear from view in the small window.

"Sorry for the cloak-and-dagger treatment, blondie. This was the only way for us to properly meet." A soft voice greeted the scientist.

Roxas stiffened, then whirled around to face the speaker. Time skidded to a halt. The blonde felt his stomach plunge through to his feet as his mouth went dry. This wasn't happening. It couldn't be. Shock locked the man's limbs up as he did the only thing he could: stare.

It wasn't even possible. The man sitting on the floor across from him couldn't be One, the man who Roxas had been a month examining and researching. Was it a trick? A practical joke?

Breath hitching in his throat, Roxas nearly choked. "Y-you…"

A smirk that had haunted Roxas's half-awake dreams stretched One's lips as the almond-shaped eyes shimmered with what could only be mischief. "Me?"

"This has got to be a joke." Roxas mumbled in disbelief. "What the hell is going on? This isn't… y-you're not..."

One watched Roxas, who continued to stammer and gape before abruptly fumbling backwards, back hitting the door. From there, his knees buckled and his body slid to the floor.

"Done muttering to yourself now?"

Roxas could only nod dumbly, feeling boneless and numb. His mind was reeling. He couldn't even wrap his thoughts around the situation. This wasn't possible. Yes, the haircut event before had been unexpected, what with the kiss and all, but One had still returned back to his previous mental state afterwards. Here, the man was… well, normal.

"Good..." One sighed tiredly, resting his head on the wall behind him. His green eyes never left Roxas's. There was no sign of disease in his eyes. He just looked tired and worn. Nevertheless, his gaze was shrewd and sharp, not anything like what Roxas had observed in the weeks beforehand. Had he been cured? A tremor of anxiety suddenly stiffened the blonde's spine. One continued to speak, not looking concerned in the least at his new-found health or the absence of Syns.

"We have no one watching, so I can tell you this in peace before all the bastards get back to their cushy offices and security cameras, assuming that Kairi kept up her end, which she usually does."

Roxas struggled with his tongue that felt too thick and unwieldy. "I'm assuming that you mean we're going to discuss the reason that we're having a civil conversation right now?"

One chuckled softly. It was a weak sound, but still pleasant. Almost gentle. "Oh, good. You're catching on now."

The red-head moved to scratch at his head, looking away as he did so. Freed from the hypnotizing green stare, Roxas managed to speak again. He winced at the tremor in his voice.

"This shouldn't be happening. It's against everything that-"

One smoothly cut in. "That you've been observing? I realize. Like I said, I hadn't meant for it to go down like this, but the situation changed. We hadn't expected for you and Suzume to show up. That just flipped everything upside down."

Roxas's eyes narrowed as he finally braced himself against the wall, never taking his eyes away from the man sitting on the floor across from him. The questions continued to pile up. "What does that have to do with anything? How do you even know who I am?"

"That's quite a long story." One sighed, allowing his head to slide sideways to rest on his shoulder. Still, both men's eyes remained like stone, unmoving, as they locked gazes. "Unfortunately, we have just enough time for you to get over your surprise and then hear what I have to say. And I have a few questions for you."

Roxas scowled, about to protest that he surely had more questions that a man who had been spending the last three months being spoon-fed in a padded box, but One didn't stop. His voice grew sharper and the blonde was forced to bite his tongue.

"How long have you been here?"

"About a month." Roxas replied after a brief hesitation, raising an eyebrow. "Since the beginning of October."

One wrenched his gaze away again to stare at the adjacent wall. He appeared troubled. Roxas watched the man think, which was a sight in and of itself, before expanding on his first statement. "You've been here just about three months."

"So I realize…"

The pause left Roxas to start thinking again, his brain finally returning from its initial numbness. The shock was wearing off. He cleared his throat with a shaky sputter, attempting to stand up again. Thankfully, his wobbly legs didn't fail him too much and the blonde managed to push himself to his feet. As he looked back to the Syns patient, he saw with a start that the red-head was staring at him again.

"You can't tell anyone about this. Don't trust anyone, either."

Roxas frowned. He had already been going through some possible scenarios on his return to the meeting and how the rest of the group would have reacted to this wonderful news. One, healed? Unheard of!

"What do you mean?"

"It's for your own good."

"How do you know that? This is amazing! After so long, you're finally speaking and functioning like a regular human being!" Roxas took a step forward, hardly believing his ears. He couldn't possibly let this medical miracle go. "You've been out of commission for so long, except for… except…" He faltered.

One grinned. "Except for yesterday, huh? Yeah, I'm not as sick as you think. But in any case…" The man abruptly changed the subject, a soft cough escaping his lips. "We're out of time. Come here."

Wary, but unsure of what exactly to be nervous about, Roxas slowly approached the man. At another beckoning gesture, he lowered to kneel before the red-head. One never took his eyes away, saying nothing and merely reaching out for the doctor. Roxas felt a hand latch around the collar of his coat as another set of fingers slipped beneath it. A faint repetition of what One had done a mere 24 hours ago. The blonde's eyes snapped open and he moved to jerk away from the intimate position, only to be held in place. One was stronger than he had anticipated.

Then, there were lips at Roxas's ears. The hand beneath his coat was sliding down to the front of his jeans, and still Roxas couldn't pull away.

"You're everything I imagined you to be."

Brain going into overload, Roxas stared wide-eyed at One as his legs struggled to keep him up, feeling the strain from kneeling so long. Could this be the Syns coming back? Had the moment of sanity passed?

Apparently not. A hard, small object was pushed into one of his jean pockets and Roxas was released soon after. Backing away to a safe distance, he reached inside to pull out the device. It was a simple USB drive.

"It'll explain more than I can right now." One murmured, slumped against the wall again, looking weary. His eyes were growing duller. "And it'll keep you, as well as Naminè and Kairi, out of trouble for a while. Just don't open it here. Not with the heavy security."

Roxas looked from the jump drive to the red-head, eyebrow raised and still a little shaken from One's bizarre behavior. "What's with the mystery bit? Why do I have to keep silent?"

"None of you can afford to lose the company's trust. They'll be onto you faster than you can blink. You can't let them know. Don't reveal anything. Keep your head down for now. Especially for the girls. You need them."

"Need them for what?" The unspoken secrets were getting bothersome. He had never liked being kept in the dark. One didn't seem bothered by the blonde's growing annoyance. He didn't even trouble himself enough to answer his question.

"I can't tell you outright because while hard evidence isn't safer, it's of more use to you than my word. Besides, like I said, it's better for everyone. You need to do this slowly. Think things through. Knowing you, you'd just do something drastic." Roxas could only scowl, and for the first time, One smiled. It looked pained.

"Haven't you been wondering where the missing pieces of the puzzle are?"

The error messages on One and Two's history files. Pieces of the puzzle?

"In any case, don't lose that. This is my first time back in stable condition for a while, and even this is pretty risky..." Roxas still looked flummoxed, holding the jump drive in his hand and remaining frozen in place. One clicked his tongue impatiently, abruptly glaring up at the scientist from where he was seated on the floor.

"What, could this really be too much for you? Or is this not Roxas Ventus, acclaimed scientist of Oblivion Inc, I'm talking to?"

"Who are you?" whispered Roxas finally, eyes narrowing. One merely grinned, eyes closing from exhaustion.

"Now, now, that'd ruin the surprise. Get going, blondie."

Roxas squeezed the USB flash stick tightly in his hands, patience snapping. "How the hell can I do that? What am I supposed to say to everyone? What is everyone else going to do when they see you acting like you're perfectly fine?!"

"Ah. Well, as for Aeris, I'd suggest you use your imagination. As for me… just don't come in here tomorrow. Don't come near me." One's voice lowered to a warning tone. "I'll be dangerous from here on out. Stick to the info on the disk and you should be fine. Just leave me alone. Now go."

As if on cue, a knock came from outside. Roxas glanced from the door to One, who was staring at him again. He had no choice. The meeting was over. One had nothing more to say to him. Roxas grit his teeth, then turned on his heel and left, shutting the door behind him without a backwards look. He almost jumped out of his skin at Naminè's unexpected voice; she had been waiting right by the doorway.

"... So?"

Roxas sighed, allowing himself to calm down as he glanced at the USB drive still in his hand. "... he gave me this."

The blonde peered into the man's hand, then smiled. "Don't be afraid to ask for help."

"Naminè..." Roxas slowly turned his head to look at the girl. "What's on this?"

"A lot of information that Twilight doesn't know still exists. Just be careful. They're trying to keep you on a short leash, so you have to keep quiet."

Roxas frowned. More warnings to keep his mouth shut. "Why?"

The caretaker laughed bitterly, shaking her head as they walked away from One's room. "That's the question, isn't it?"

* * *

Roxas had hurried back with Naminè to the meeting room, only to find it empty. The meeting had ended. Not entirely disappointed with the idea of avoiding confrontation with Dr. Ansem, the blonde returned to his own office, parting with Naminè who mentioned checking up on Two. Riku wasn't there.

Don't tell anyone. Keep silent. This will help you. It's better for everyone. No one else should know. They might be watching.

You're everything I imagined you to be.

What the hell was going on? Roxas couldn't help but think that it was all a huge conspiracy theory. Maybe a practical joke. Perhaps One had been pretending to be sick for a month and the rest of the company had been playing along.

Roxas snorted to himself. Yeah, right.

The scowl of Dr. Ansem's face was proof enough that this was no joke. The man looked like someone who wouldn't dare to smile for fear of wasting energy on the gesture. Roxas sighed as he sat down at his desk. It was the place where, just hours before, he had only a few confusions on his mind. Not the whole weight of… well, whatever One had dumped on him. And his worst fear was that whatever One had been babbling about actually had merit to it. That this wasn't a joke at all. And Roxas didn't even have a clue where that line of thinking could lead to. He was certain that the past month hadn't been spent for nothing; One's sickness was legitimate. But how had he bounced back to good health so quickly?

"Well, at least I don't need any more coffee…" Grumbled the blonde, raking fingers through his spikes in frustration as he stared at his blank computer screen. The meeting with One had been enough of a wake-up call. What with crazy patients and ridiculous secrecy and sacred USB drives...

The USB drive. Roxas blinked, some of his annoyance clearing. He still hadn't looked at the storage disk. Perhaps, as One had promised, it would explain some things. Complete his puzzle, so to speak. As Roxas tugged it out, he couldn't help but grow still a moment.

One. The man that Roxas had spent a month observing. The Syns victim who had suffered through countless tortures, mental and physical. The one who knew who he and Riku were, whose eyes held intelligence and a cunning glint. How had the man even kept the small jump drive hidden for so long on his person? Roxas was certain that the white with the padded walls hardly held any promising hiding places.

Still, Roxas thought as he stared down at the metallic device. He trusts me enough to give it to me.

At first, the blonde considered inserting the drive into his company-issued PC, but soon reconsidered as he remembered One's warning not to even open the USB stick inside Twilight. Instead, he tugged out his laptop from the briefcase he always carried and plugged the object into the slimmer computer instead.

He placed the laptop onto the desk and waited patiently as it turned on, monitor flashing through the regular start-up screens. Before he knew it, his hands began to shake. Fingertips skimming over the notebook's touchpad, Roxas double-clicked here and there to reach the drive's folders. Soon enough, a window opened to reveal hundreds of files, all varying in sizes and names. For a full one gig drive, One had certainly made the most of it.

The blonde looked over the files, torn on where to start as he scrolled through. There was an ocean of information here, everything from the company's budget records to an employment list. A particular folder eventually caught his eye: "Patient Files."

Something curled in his gut and Roxas's neck hair stood on end. He had a terrible feeling about opening the folder. It wouldn't bode well. Especially with the warnings from One hanging over his head.

Roxas clicked it.

Immediately, two pictures filled up the screen. It was One and Two, the photos that Roxas had seen countless times before, including the morning's meeting. But the scrollbar showed that there was still plenty of information below the jpeg images. Roxas scrolled down. The familiar tidbits clicked past, page after page, until his fingers jutted to a halt. The next page's title read "Patient History." As if burned, the blonde pulled his hands away.

Shit. This is it.

Roxas blew out the air that he hadn't even realized he had been holding on. He had no idea why he was stressing out; it surely could not be as serious as what One had made it sound like. Over exaggeration, possibly. Roxas allowed a tiny laugh to escape his lips. Really. It was stupid of him to even take One seriously. It must have been another symptom of Syns.

Although Roxas couldn't exactly recall "paranoia" as one of the Seven Deadly Sins.

Shaking his head, the blonde chuckled to himself and moved his fingers back to the laptop. This was nonsense. Maybe I should take a vacation… this is getting to be a little too much for me. Soon I'll be hearing voices…

"Roxas?"

"GAH!" Roxas flinched violently in surprise, smacking his hands first into the laptop, then slamming shut the lid.

A surprised quiet followed as he mustered up the guts to look up. Aeris stood in the doorway, looking a little surprised as a smile tugged as her lips.

"I just came in to see how you were doing. Is everything alright?"

"Y-yes…" Roxas stammered, smoothing his fingers over his abused computer, then abruptly forcing himself to stop fidgeting. He clasped his hands and shoved them into his lap. I'm a complete nervous wreck. He conceded to himself as a grin stretched his mouth. Too much coffee.

"Alright." Aeris finally did smile. "How is One? You never returned to the meeting, so we weren't sure…"

In retrospect, Roxas could hardly believe how easily the lies came spilling from his mouth.

"He was just a little violent, Ms. Gainsborough. More than usual, really. He attempted to escape the room for the first time, but I handled it."

Aeris nodded thoughtfully, humming in understanding. "That's good. It's just that our cameras were down for maintenance, apparently, and we cannot re-observe his behavior. Was anything more unusual than before?"

Hadn't One mentioned that Kairi had taken care of the surveillance somehow? Surely, the idea that the cameras had been down at the same time as his meeting wasn't a coincidence.

"Ah, well…" One's words came unbidden to his mind. You can't tell anyone about this. Don't trust anyone, either. Roxas swallowed, shaking his head. "Nothing too out of the ordinary. He's stable now. I believe Naminè may be with him, if you wish to discuss it with her."

"I believe I will." Aeris nodded, then paused, looking a bit concerned. Her eyes grazed over the blonde and Roxas couldn't help but feel as if he were being X-rayed. He shifted in his seat.

"You look a little pale, Doctor. Are you sure you're alright?"

Me? Alright? Of course I'm alright. Getting involved in such a mess isn't stressing at all. "I-I may be getting a cold. It is fall, after all."

"Well, you should go home early. This isn't the type of environment for you to be in if you're getting sick." Aeris's voice became a bit commanding. She turned to leave. "I'll have Naminè take care of One for the remainder of the day. You worry about getting yourself back to full health."

"Ok." Roxas muttered, eyes wide as the door to the office was shut. "I'll do that."

* * *

Roxas didn't wait to say goodbye to Riku, Naminè, or anyone. He packed up all of his belongings and was already back on the train home before his lunch break was over. He didn't dare to touch his laptop until the shining building of Twilight Pharmaceutics was completely lost in the rest of the skyline of Dolus City. After that, not pausing to take in the shimmering view of the skyscrapers in the sun, the blonde tugged out his notebook again and flipped the cover.

It was still on the same page, teetering in-between "Patient Blood Analysis" and "Patient History." It was almost as if it was waiting for Roxas to make decision. A decision that he had made back in his own office, sooner after Aeris had left.

Without thinking, his shaking fingers were moving of their own accord. Roxas hit the down button and the page scrolled in the appropriate direction.

Two new pictures filled the monitor.

It was still One and Two. But they looked different. Very different. Roxas's stomach fell through to his feet as a chill raked up his spine. For the second time today, he was struck dumb. He should've known. He should have seen this coming, even if all of it was coming practically out of left field. As all of the saliva seemed to drain out of his mouth and his lungs struggled to remember how to function, the blonde felt a vibration in his leg. His phone. Someone was calling him. Head spinning, Roxas wondered vaguely who could be calling him and how they had such perfect timing.

The caller ID read "Suzume." Roxas flicked open his phone with fingers that seemed to be too pale to belong to him.

"Ri… ku?"

"Roxas, I have something to tell you."

What a coincidence. "Riku…" Roxas croaked, a shaky smile cracking his features as he stared down at the computer screen. "Riku, you're not going to believe this."

There was a pause of uncertainty. Roxas took the silence to continue, but his throat was closing up. "One and Two, Riku… shit, Riku, they're-"

"They're Axel Minato and Sora Astrum, Roxas."

Well, shit. The train entered a tunnel, throwing the images and words on the screen into brighter view. As the cell phone dropped from his nerveless fingers, Roxas looked back to the computer and couldn't help but think… Why me?

* * *

OTL I have failed you all in updating, yes? Gruhdfjer. I'm sorry, guys. I have no decent excuses or reasons for not updating when I should have. You all have the full right to… well, do your worst, I suppose. I certainly deserve it. Mrgh ;.;

But I haz 7,000 word chapter for you, as you can see, as peace offering, so please don't kill me. xD I'm not dead, as you can see by some other silly one shots I wrote. I'm not dropping any of my stories thus far. And Special Discount will be updated next.

Kthx. -crawls back into hole to play moar Phoenix Wright-


	4. Breakdown

Chapter 4

_Breakdown_

* * *

Roxas was concentrating intently on breathing. Inhale. Hold. Exhale. Repeat, and don't forget to blink. The blond nervously swept a tongue over his drying lips, trying to calm his jittery nerves down, but he already knew it was futile. It was all futile.

With a soft groan, he sank back into the worn cushions of the train seat, fingers still latched onto his laptop with a death grip that he couldn't shake off. The world outside, the city and its skyscrapers, only continued to rush by, blurred with speed, unknowingly moving past a man whose life had plummeted to the lower levels of hell with just a single page of a report. A report that had come in a deadly flash drive, given to him from the last person on earth who should have been handing out such dangerous information in the first place.

His phone rested on top of the thin computer, out of battery power. It had been enough of a shock for Roxas to receive that unexpected call from Riku (which had prompted him to drop the phone first), but as soon as the connection shut off and the man pulled his hand back to see a completely dead phone, it took all of his strength not to start… overreacting. Surprisingly enough, despite being rather on edge, Roxas was handling the situation well. Or, at least, he would have liked to think so. His hands _were_ shaking and he _was_ having a bit of trouble breathing, but otherwise, it could have been worse. He could have started screaming or tearing his hair out.

It wasn't everyday that he found out that he was in the middle of a conspiracy.

At least, that was what Roxas's mind kept returning to in its search for a plausible reason as to why Twilight Pharmaceuticals had its two brightest scientists as critical-state patients. The blond didn't exactly _want_ to believe it, but he couldn't help himself; his thoughts kept straying back to the same thought. He didn't know what else it could possibly mean.

The blond stared out the window without actually seeing, eyes glazed over. He still had some theories. Axel and Sora could have been part of a freak accident that inflicted them with disease, and Twilight had wanted to hush it up, so they kept it quiet and simply made them patients, instead. But then, why go through the guise of researching them? Especially when Axel had, just a while ago, seemed to lose all his symptoms and then insisted that Roxas keep silent?

Roxas sighed to himself, thumb beginning an impatient tapping on the surface of the laptop. Another consideration was that perhaps the two scientists had willingly given themselves up for the sake of science. Then why the pleading for help during the hair-cut session yesterday and why the hush-up treatment? Regret, perhaps? And why the erasure of One and Two's history files in the official report?

And in general, after so many weeks of observation, why had all of this started coming together _now?_ Surely, it was no coincidence.

In the end, the blond still really had absolutely no idea what was going on.

Roxas's head was buzzing with too many questions already; they were beginning to practically clog. The man sighed, letting his skull thud against the window and his eyes to close. It was too much, he needed more time to think. And possibly more coffee.

The blond sat out the rest of the train ride by putting in every effort on _not_ thinking about Axel Minato and, once again, just breathing. He eventually managed to relax, but it left him slightly sleepy and dazed as he found himself making his way to his apartment. He didn't meet anyone's gaze nor greet a single person as he entered the building and hurried to catch the elevator.

One had-no, _Axel_- had told him to be careful. Roxas's paranoia shot up a notch as he glanced around at the young couple and the janitor who were in the elevator with him. Twilight Pharm. was a powerful corporation, they could easily have found out about Roxas's newly discovered information, and the blond had seen enough action videos to know that he was probably in danger if that was the case.

Then again, the protagonist usually had some sort of weapon in the movie, too, while all Roxas was armed with was a heavy messenger bag and laptop.

Were there assassins waiting around the corner? Roxas almost walked out of the elevator at the wrong floor, just managing to stop himself but barely even sparing his mistake a thought. Maybe there were ninjas his room? Angry Twilight employees? Was he going to die now that he had learned of the company's secret?

Bottom lip slipping between his teeth, proof of his anxiety, the scientist managed to stumble from the elevator as soon as it reached his floor, chewing away at the soft flesh. He was letting the fear get to him. Roxas was steadily becoming away of how dangerous it was, carrying information that he shouldn't have even known about. And Riku knew now, too. They were _both_ in danger.

The first thing that Roxas planned to do once he made sure his home was safe was to snatch up his home phone and call the silver-haired man back. Their conversation had been cut short and continuing it to discuss their current situation held top priority. Then… Roxas didn't know what he would do.

_Can I go back to work?_ Roxas thought grimly, trying to casually make it down the hall to his own living space without looking too spooked. _Can I return to what I had before? _

Things were different now. His patient wasn't a nameless being carrying a disease. It was suddenly a living, breathing being and the very idea scared him and disturbed him. Once again, Roxas was shying away from the fact that he had lost some of his regard for humanity a long time ago. Science and medicine had done this to him. Patients were no longer people but means to achieve an end, an obstacle to overcome. Suddenly, it was more important to break down a virus or infection and find a solution than to actually save lives.

It was disgusting.

Though at least his inner turmoil had been distracting enough that Roxas had managed to make it to his apartment and even get through the door, purely by routine. He stalled in the doorway, though, fingers still resting on the handle.

Roxas froze, mind reeling. The door to his apartment had been unlocked and he _always_ locked it. He specifically even remembered turning the key that morning. There was no mistaking it; someone had beaten him to his place. Staring ahead without blinking, the blond raced through options, like his mind usually did. 'Think before you leap' and all that.

Then Roxas realized that he had absolutely no idea how to think the situation through and pick a rational course of action. It was undeniable now. He was getting in over his head. His nerves were all over the place, paranoia levels were at an all-time high, and he couldn't even piece together thoughts anymore. He was a _scientist_, damnit, not an action hero!

But the scientist's house was broken in and he definitely had to make a decision on what to do about that.

With a deep breath, Roxas silently toed off his shoes and gingerly shut the door behind him, effectively trapping himself with whoever had broken into his home. His heart was pumping at what he knew must have been an much higher rate than usual and his hands were shaking, but Roxas's mind had actually cleared with his choice to enter his apartment. Now that he at least had a set goal in mind of getting through his living area while hoping in earnest that the intruder wouldn't be _too_ violent.

The blond grabbed an umbrella from the stand by the door to arm himself, just in case, leaving his laptop case nearby so that he at least had a fighting chance.

The roomy apartment had never been so absolutely dead silent. Roxas found himself holding his breath as he crept down the hall, clutching at his make-shift weapon. The corridor opened up and melded into his kitchen in the right and that was where the blond heard faint sounds of movement.

Roxas froze right at the wall, pressing against it as he attempted to peer around the corner. It seemed the burglar hadn't realized his presence yet. Forcing himself to take even breaths now, the scientist steeled himself for a struggle. By the looks of it, it wasn't going to end well. Roxas wasn't much of an athlete; he had never been going with physical things, he was an office man through and through, but the blond would still attempt to put up a fight. He had no choice.

"Hmm…" A sound came from the kitchen. A thoughtful hum. As if whoever was there had already made themselves at home. The blond snapped.

Brain going into overload, Roxas released a yell and dove around the corner into the kitchen, wielding his umbrella like a sword as he prepared himself to hit everything and anything that came at him, eyes scanning the area wildly as he did so.

A shriek of horror came from the refrigerator at the far end of the room. Fueled on by fear, the blond spun on his heel to face the intruder, umbrella at the ready… then stopped, arms still frozen in an offensive position and jaw falling open in shock.

"Demyx."

"Please don't kill me." Roxas's long-time friend and former coworker from Oblivion Inc. whimpered from where he had slid to the floor, hands raised defensively, one of which was still clutching the bottle of water the man had probably just retrieved from the fridge before the blond had attacked.

Roxas set the umbrella down, ignoring the way that his body had begun shaking. "Wh-what are you doing here? You scared the life out of me!"

"You said I could come by whenever I wanted, and since I have your spare key, I just let myself in." Demyx muttered, daring a peek up at Roxas. When he saw that the other man looked just as startled as he was, he relaxed. "What was with the umbrella attack, man? Geez."

"S-Sorry." Roxas stuttered, sitting down and pressing a hand to his chest in an effort to calm his breathing and pounding heart. He felt… relief that he wasn't dead, mixed with annoyance at his friend for being a complete idiot. Demyx, meanwhile, stood and brushed himself off, even taking a moment to make sure his bizarre hair-do was still in order before turning back to his friend.

"Are you alright, Roxas? You look really pale. Want me to make you some coffee or something?"

Coffee. The elixir of life. It was _exactly _what he needed. Roxas nodded, becoming a bit too numb to speak, and peeled off his jacket instead, watching as his friend hurried to prepare the brew, using the blond's kitchen like it was his own.

Demyx Schultz had been a psychiatrist at Oblivion before the company had fallen apart. The man had been one of the few that had decided not to shift to the opposing company. Instead, he went out to make a living for himself elsewhere. As far as Roxas knew, Demyx had taken up guitar-playing again and had even gotten himself a few gigs.

Needless to say, that particular pursuit of interest wasn't going too well since the man had wandered into his apartment for food.

Moments later, the two settled down in the living room, Demyx with the food and water he had looted and Roxas with his relaxing coffee.

"So are you going to tell me why you almost tried to kill me?" Demyx asked cheerily, digging into the bag of chips he had scrounged up.

Roxas's tone was less than eager. "Are you going to tell me why you snuck into my house to eat my food?"

"I was hungry?"

"Well, then, I was under the assumption that you were a burglar." Roxas replied shortly, not impressed with the other man's answer. They were friends, yes, but that was only on good days. They hadn't talked all too often, even when they had still been working together. The blond wasn't in the mood for the happy-go-lucky Demyx, either, especially after the scare he just had. He wanted nothing more than to explore the flash drive some more and call Riku.

Demyx, however, didn't look like he was leaving anytime soon. He sat back contentedly in Roxas's couch and munched away, completely oblivious to the blond's deteriorating patience. "Innocent mistake, I suppose. I did try calling your cell phone, but it said it couldn't connect. ­_Any_way, what have you been up to, Roxie?"

Roxas inwardly cringed but fought off the urge to throw the man out, taking an extra-large gulp of coffee to distract himself as he realized that he wasn't in the mood for chit-chat. How could one possibly sit down for a cup of coffee after nearly having a nervous breakdown?

He kept his answer simple. "Er. Work. You know. The usual."

"Obviously, seeing as you're still as serious and grouchy as usual." Demyx chortled, looking absolutely at ease and pleased with himself, as well.

"Yeah, well, some things never change, I suppose." Roxas muttered in response, taking another sip of his drink. "How about you?"

"Oh, you know, just this and that." Demyx cracked open his water bottle and took a thoughtful sip, shrugging and acting nonchalant.

"Still doing the band thing?"

That was obviously what Demyx had wanted to talk about most, since his eyes visibly lit up and he nearly spit out the water in his mouth. "Oh, you _know _it! The Nobodies are so going big, you have no idea! We've got gigs lined up all next week and I don't think I've ever seen Xiggy so excited! I might even get a solo part in our next single!"

"Huh, you don't say."

Demyx beamed, "How's Riku, by the way? I haven't seen him in ages."

"Er. Working. You know. The usual."

By the sudden pout on Demyx's lips, Roxas could tell that the other man, as well as the conversation, was losing steam. A tense silence followed. Demyx's merry attitude faded a fraction and his eyes began wandering, hoping to find something distracting. Eventually, he settled on the wall-clock over the entertainment center and proceeded to gasp out in horror, startling Roxas enough that he almost spilled his coffee.

"Oh, shoot, I'm late for rehearsal!"

"Goodness, we can't have that!" In an instant, Roxas set down his mug and stood, hurrying over to Demyx to pull him from his seat. The mullet-hawked man stuttered in protest, but Roxas wouldn't have any of it. He hurried the man to the door, eagerly bidding him a good evening and that he call him later if he really wanted to catch up on old times.

Demyx was left out in the hall, looking wounded and still clutching at his bottle of water and bag of chips.

As soon as the door was shut and tightly locked and disaster was neatly avoided, Roxas released a deep sigh. He had had enough shocks and surprises for one day. _Truly_, what else could life possibly throw at him? Anything worse than Demyx would possibly snap his sanity in two.

Grabbing his laptop case, the scientist made his way back to his coffee mug and armchair, sliding out the computer with practiced ease. Working and thinking; this was what he did best, even under pressure. Carefully pulling out the flash drive again, the blond wasted no time in inserting it into his laptop, clicking his way back through the folders. He had no time to wait or freshen up; this required his immediate attention, and later, once Roxas was sure that Riku was off work and home, he would call his partner back, too.

In seconds, his computer and the flash drive were up and running.

It took a little bit of clicking and exploring, but the blond figured out most of the contents soon enough. While the memory device held a huge collection of folders, not all of them held any importance to Roxas. It appeared that this had been Axel's personal jump drive. Many of the files were simple data lists. However, one folder did snatch up Roxas's attention. It was an entire gig of information under the title of "For the benefit of all." Curious, the blond opened it.

It was a digital journal, written by none other than Axel Minato himself. Snatching up his coffee again, Roxas sat back and began to read. It there was one good way to get down to the bottom of the whole situation, this was it.

--

_**August 2nd, 2123**_

Undoubtedly, I think Sora is being rather silly by telling me that I need to keep a journal, but regardless. Keeping memories on paper, my ass, he just wants me to have a damn hobby. I thought to possibly jot my findings on our research of the Epidermolysis Bullosa, but Sora insists that this strictly be a diary-thing. I'm not a _girl_, but I suppose I'll humor him just this once. I hope you're happy, Sora.

Name, Axel Minato. Age, 25. Profession? Currently a research director at Twilight Pharmaceuticals. I lead the big, rich boring life of having people work under me. I get to make some of the semi-important decisions. But at least people say I'm brilliant. I'm more hands-on than most people here and I guess sticking my nose in places it doesn't belong to help out my little underlings is what makes me so brilliant. That flu shot didn't create itself, after all. And yeah, I guess Sora helped, too, but he's just the man working the medicine.

I'm losing interest in this already.

_**August 7th, 2123**_

Yuffie cornered me today to tell me how another moron tried to threaten Twilight by exposing our whole line-up of medicine we're working on.

I don't think I've ever seen the girl look so happy in describing how the man got beat up by security and then thrown out of the building after his body was searched and the three flash drives of information he had been hiding were trashed.

Twilight Pharmaceuticals is a pleasant place. I don't know how that idiot got hired in the first place.

_**August 10th, 2123**_

The database has been closed on Epidermolysis Bullosa. Now that we've gotten that gruesome skin disease out of the way, I can't wait to finally start helping with something less rare and unknown. If those two from Oblivion can get interesting projects to work on, why can't Sora and I?

(On a completely random note, I've been raring to meet Ventus and Suzume since they came out with Verlazil. I haven't met anyone interesting in ages.)

Word's going around that Ansem brought in some French guys to help work on the latest project that, surprise, I'm not assigned to. The disease itself intrigues me, though. Anterior Cingulate Cortex Disability Complex. As catchy as the name is, the symptoms themselves fascinate me. To be completely numbed down with no emotions or feelings… I've never tackled anything of the like before. Nor will I, if this keeps up. I can tell that Ansem's little lackey, Larxene, wants me to work on some silly allergy medicine.

Twilight is a good company, to be sure, but things are much too boring here. Most of the higher-ups are no fun and even though I've worked under Ansem ever since I started, he still gives me the creeps.

I hate being kept on a leash here.

_**August 11th, 2132**_

That damn pink-haired moron got the spot to work on ACCDC. Me? Hayfever. Coughing, sneezing, wheezing, sniffly subjects all over the place.

To put it in scientifically, life blows.

_**August 12th, 2123**_

I dislike hayfever intensely. That is all.

_**August 13th**_**, **_**2123**_

Once again, I've stuck my nose where I didn't need to. By pure luck, I managed to spot the ACCDC subjects being brought in while I was meeting with the French newbies. That stiff, Vexen, said that they had already prepared a week's worth of test samples to try on their two patients. The process of going every day and trying out new strings of medicine to see what works will begin soon, too. I couldn't help but go and do a little bit of research, myself, to see what Marluxia was planning on doing, since to my surprise, Vexen and Oletta were being rather hush-hush about the details.

And I do love finding out secrets.

It started with a simple run through the database, a handy privilege of being a research director. Others can usually only access their own files. It was a method developed by Twilight to protect the more in-depth research projects; we've had trouble with a couple of people running to other companies in the past before after reading files they shouldn't have (See August 7th). It's no surprise that our company secrets sell big.

I found Ansem's section and began clicking through to the ACCDC section. Innocent file browsing, that was all it was. Except aside from all of the other medicines that I knew we've been working on, there was one folder called "Syns." I had never heard of anything of the sort, but it was right in the ACCDC folder, so I assumed they were related. It was intriguing.

It was also password-blocked, which I had never encountered before. Oh yes. _Someone_ is keeping secrets.

I've read the whole thing, rather sneakily, busting through the password. I'm in trouble now. I _truly_ don't know when to mind my own business.

Now the question is… should I keep this to myself?

_**August 13th, 2123, con't**_

Words gets out fast. I forgot about the very small details that manages to hold our whole company together; our camera system. Ansem knows. And I shouldn't. I'm on lunch break now, and I don't know whether or not to return to my office. This isn't going to end well.

I just found out the biggest company secret of all; so secret that only Ansem's division knows about it. The ACCDC research is a set-up, merely a tool to further his goals of creating his own disease to manipulate whoever he wishes. He's learning to control human emotions, bend them to his own will, while holding the antidote just out of arm's reach. And everything would have gone well, if not for … me. I don't know anything else about Syns, if there are any victims already or how far along his project is going, but the general outcome is obvious and if Ansem gets away with it, he'll make millions and set up Twilight as the reigning company in the whole world.

I can't do anything at this point, which frustrates me. I know that they'll find a way to shut me up somehow. It's obvious they won't kill me, but they'll find something. I'm contemplating death threats and constant surveillance and possibly the loss of my job. I'm not an easily fixed slip-up; how do you undo finding out about a company plot to exploit the human race?

However, I myself have made a mistake, and now I'm paying for it. I should have been more careful.

I'll leave this flash drive in the safest place I know. Sora, I can only hope that you find it and don't get involved in this. I don't even have time to write down the details now. I know you're my partner in crime around here in Twilight, but I won't drag you down with me and my stupid mistake. Even I don't know how to stop Ansem. By the time you read this, I think the Syns folder will be moved to a much safer place and I won't be talking.

This is my last journal entry, Sora. I'm sorry I couldn't write more. But… Thanks.

--

Roxas sat back with a sigh, fourth cup of coffee already half-empty in his right hand. To be sure, Axel had not diligently kept an update on his journal, but it had held enough information, at least, for Roxas to get some idea of what had happened three months before.

Axel had delved too deep, which resulted in him being silenced by becoming a test subject for Syns. It hadn't been a freak accident at all; they had forced the man to become a patient to perfect the ideal string of the Syns disease. In reality, he was being held there in Twilight against his will, a virtual prisoner, however that was. Roxas could only speculate on how they were keeping Axel in line. Was it a permanent disease, or was he completely healthy if left alone? How Sora had gotten involved was uncertain, too, but it just proved that with the answers that Roxas received came a ton of more questions.

For one, who else knew of the truth behind Syns, aside from Ansem? Who could Roxas trust? Riku was a given, as well as Naminè, but the blond knew he had to be on his toes from now on, especially with the camera surveillance. If Ansem suspected anything, they would be keeping an eye on him. Roxas had a feeling he wouldn't be able to freely discuss anything pertaining to Axel, but put on an act instead, just as Naminè had done earlier after the flash drive had been passed on.

Speaking of the flash drive… It had been intended originally for Sora, so how had the object made its way to him? And why? Axel had been kept silent for so long, so how had he managed to return to his old self and give Roxas the jump drive in the first place?

"Why did you give this to me?" Roxas murmured, frowning thoughtfully as he glanced back at his computer. What could he possibly do now? Would he save Axel and Sora? Or leave them there and just let time run its course?

And was Roxas even safe anymore? Now that he knew, was he going to meet the same end as Axel? Why had Twilight involved him in this in the first place?

A lot of why, how, what, but no answers.

The blond laughed weakly at himself, snapping out of his questions frenzy. "Goddamn, this _is_ a conspiracy, after all. What the hell am I supposed to do now?"

However, among the plethora of problems, there were some things that even Roxas managed to decide in his daze. Of course he wouldn't leave Axel and Sora to the mercy of Twilight. Riku wouldn't allow it, anyway. The red-head had asked him to help, had _expected_ the blond to figure it all out. Roxas couldn't possibly let him down now, let alone allow Ansem to get away with whatever he was trying to pull. He would have to watch his step from now on, yes, but he _would_ figure out a way to help.

The scientist had a suspicion that his sudden determination had stemmed from the coffee he had downed, but he ignored it. First things first; calling Riku.

Unfortunately, both the silver-haired man's home and cell phone rang through to the answering machine with no answer.

_"Hey, this is Riku Suzu-_" Roxas set down his phone sharply before he listened through another recorded message. No Riku then. The blond tried not to dwell on what the other man's absence could mean. For now, he would have to deal with the situation on his own. Hopefully, Riku was doing something helpful on his end, as well.

Stretching until his bones popped, Roxas let out a content hum and propped his laptop up again. With over 600 mg of caffeine under his belt, it was time to pull a hefty all-nighter to do what Roxas truly did best.

_Research_.

* * *

Roxas's hands didn't even shake when he returned to Twilight the next day. Panic and nervousness had numbed him down completely, but he forced himself not to look like a jittery, nervous wreck as he walked through the halls and even managed a 'good morning' to Aeris as he passed her by. _The cameras are watching, the cameras are watching… stay calm. _No one seemed to suspect him and Roxas made it through the building safely. However, to make matters worse, Riku was absent from their shared office, so the blond was forced to down a cup of coffee alone and, without any relief from his friend, make his way over to One's room. _Or was it cage?_

Axel had told him the day before to stay away. But Roxas refused. He couldn't, not now, not when he had so many things to ask the man, or at least press Naminè for answers. He needed to see someone to at least make sure that this whole experience wasn't a horrible dream or concoction of his over-worked brain.

To his surprise, Naminè was already there by the doors, waiting with a disheartening, grim expression.

"Dr. Ventus, I'm afraid that One cannot be observed today." She said softly, thrusting forward the stats of One, as she usually did in the morning. Roxas didn't even glance at the clipboard, advancing on the nurse instead.

"What do you mean? What's the problem?" And _why_? _Why is he worse? What are they doing to him?_

Naminè's voice shook, but she kept her stance and gaze firm as her mouth tightened into a pained line. "I'm afraid, doctor, that his symptoms have become worse and he poses a much greater threat now to others. Ms. Gainsborough has strictly forbidden anyone from entering."

"But…I _have_ to talk to-I mean, observe him." Roxas's grip on the clipboard tightened, disbelief clouding his features. He knew full well that Naminè was putting up an act for the surrounding security systems, but even now, it was apparent that something was wrong. "But didn't you give him his medicine this morning?"

"Yes." The girl's eyes dropped. "His status visibly worsened after that, about an hour ago."

"Has his dosage been changed in any way recently?" An idea of the whole situation slowly began to come together for him. _Why didn't I realize it before?_

"I-I, Doctor… I…"

_Of course._

It was the _medicine_. The daily shots that Naminè administered to One every morning. Each hypodermic needle carried a new string of medicine that was injected into One's bloodstream in a day-by-day experiment of which solution was best for fighting against Syns. Or, at least, that's what everyone had been told. It was so simple to just disguise the disease as an actual dose of medicine. Which meant that without his shots, Axel would have been normal, as he had the day before.

Twilight Pharmaceuticals had found the perfect way to silence one of their best scientists.

He wanted to ask, just to make sure. _Naminè, is the medicine itself the cause of the Syns? Have you been putting Axel through this yourself?_

Roxas had assumed that the disease had already been present and Twilight had possibly been purposely not treating Axel and Sora properly. Apparently, this was no longer the case.

"Naminè." Roxas said slowly, giving the girl a meaningful look. He had to be careful, not knowing just who was listening in. He kept his words soft, hoping that the nurse would understand. "Naminè, did you remember to give him his shots yesterday? The new test samples?"

Naminè suddenly gave him a patronizing look, mixed with a warning glare. "Roxas, _please_, I know you may doubt my skills sometime, but trust me enough to do my job properly."

_I can't tell you. Not here. Not now._

"Ah, yes… I'm sorry. Should I just observe from the regular room, then? And look over the stats?"

_I understand. Are the answers here in the report?_

"I think you'll find everything you want to know there, doctor." Naminè replied, mouth relaxing as she nodded and made a move to leave. "If you have any trouble, please feel free to call me."

"Would you maybe like to have lunch with me today?" Roxas abruptly asked, looking surprised himself at the suggestion.

Naminè blinked, then smiled, sensing the man's intentions. "I would love to. I'll see you later, then. Please keep an eye on One."

_Be careful._

Somewhat wary now of the girl's warning, Roxas nodded goodbye and turned to head in to his usual observation room, immediately looking through the glass to see One's state, fearing the worst. But it was quiet and still. The red-head was sitting exactly in the middle of the room, facing the blond. There was a slight rocking motion shifting his body, but at first glance, there didn't appear to be anything wrong.

Puzzled, Roxas sat down at the table and began flipped through the charts and report that the nurse had handed him. And after a moment, he found what Naminè had been trying to tell him, hidden within the charts and data graphs. Words scattered in places, hidden. But Roxas picked up on it.

_"They've increased the dosage of Syns. It's no longer a single condition, but he's all seven states at once. This will last about a week. I'll tell you everything I can later."_

So that was that. Roxas's jaw tightened, snapping the report folder shut. A week. Axel would be unable to help for a week, and the blond wasn't certain how long he could hold out.

Glancing back at the patient again, _One_, as he used to be called, Roxas was startled to notice that the man seated in the room, still rocking helplessly, was crying. His cheeks were wet and his hair hung limply around his shoulders, a dull red. The man had been driven to a grim state, almost being treated like an animal, a simple _test_ _subject_. What shocked Roxas to the core, however, wasn't Axel's physical state.

It was his eyes. The green eyes that had, even in Syns, been a window of emotions and turmoil for the man. They were blank and dull. Axel had the gaze of the defeated, dying, _dead_. The soul had dulled.

Roxas bit his lip. The man known was Axel Minato was, for the time being… dead.

* * *

LUL, I AM SO GLAD I UPDATED THIS KTHXBAI. -curls up in corner and dies-


End file.
